Catholics hope to get in on religious radio boom

With the Holy Mother behind him and a picture of Pope John Paul II before him, John Lillis looks at his microphone and talks about how radio will revitalize the Roman Catholic Church.

Heeding the late pope's call to evangelize and spread the message of the church, Lillis and many other Catholic lay people are planning to start stations across the country. They're hoping that a so-called "window of opportunity" from the Federal Communications Commission makes their goal even easier. The window is the only time that nonprofit groups, including churches, universities and public safety groups, can apply for low-power FM stations.

"We want to have somebody listen safely and anonymously. The only way to do that is to help stations get off the ground," said Lillis, a longtime broadcaster from Omaha who consults with people wanting to start their own Catholic stations.

Religious radio is huge. Behind news talk and country, it was the third-most numerous format of radio stations in the country in 2004, according to the radio research firm Arbitron. There were 2,014 religious stations in the firm's last count, up from 1,089 in 1998.



http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/NE_AT_ISSUE_CATHOLIC_RADIO_NEOL-?SITE=VARIT&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-12-16-12-07-06

back in the good old days, and this is why they've been reluctant to jump onto the televangelist bandwagon.

My feeling is that ship has sailed, the horse has escaped, and that the fascination with televised religion is starting to fade. It's become stale, and people are always on the move, searching for novelty.

So unless they want to feature live snakes and rock bands, they're going to have an uphill battle attracting viewers who have been told by pompadoured fundies for decades that Catholics aren't Christian.

My grandfather, who was an anti-Catholic Catholic listened to him intently and that probably hardened the more bigoted aspects of his personality.

Except, wasn't Coughlin very very anti-Semitic? Overtly so??

I seem to remember an uncle talking about that.

Sadly, I think that's why my grandfather liked him.

Should be good.